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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Hemmed Silk Organza

Is it wrong to feel positively breathless over the results of one's own sewing? I love the rush of finally mastering a technique. (Ah, cheap thrills.) This is my first use of the narrow hemmer foot that's been nearly flawless. Only took three years to get it right!

It took me a while to get the hang of the narrow hem foot too. I learned pretty quickly what it doesn't work well on. I tried to use is on some ruffles...yeah no, doesn't work well on a curve. My mom has a blind hem machine (she makes window treatments and uses it all the time) and I still mess it up everytime I try to use it.

Check out the tutorial done by BrianSews on Youtube. I needed to acquire this skill, had done a wedding dress alt which was only just passable last year, but was helping my young designer get his collection for LFW and for Paris, so needed to learn quickly. BrianSews helps you with the curves too. He has a great blog, though he isn't productive at the moment as far as the blog is concerned.

Is that similar to a rolled hem foot? because gah, I just can't get that stupid thing to work! I can make hems with it on things like napkins with straight seams and easy to work with fabrics, but I just can't get it to work for any kind of garment sewing. I just played around with it last night (trying to hem a bias cut silk/cotton voile skirt), and I had zero luck. I ended up doing the hem the long way. So yeah, if you have magic secrets, please tell!

I just used my rolled hem foot for the first time on a circle skirt. It was a little bit harrowing and, for some reason, my machine keeps skipping stitches with it. But I did manage to get all the way around! Not perfectly, but good enough for a beginner like me (I've just been sewing since October). It wasn't too bad, but definitely did take practice.

I think it really depends on the manufacturer of the foot. When I used my old Kenmore purchased at Sears, the narrow hem foot was simple and perfect from the get go. Now on my more expensive Viking, I can't get one perfect hem out of it. Same technique, same type of foot but different manufacturers.

I get ridiculously excited too when I master a technique, or even just successfully complete something I've never made before. My boyfriend lust chuckles, but it is such a rush to look at something cool like that and go "I did that!"

Well, I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who has trouble with that darn foot! I am buried in wedding and bridesmaid dresses at work this week and my foot is getting a workout - so is my vocabulary of swear words, I'm sorry to say. Although I have to say that the foot I use with the Singer at work is better than the foot I use with my Pfaff at home. Can you believe that?

I'll have to do a tutorial on "that darn foot" on my site if I ever master it completely!

Awesome! This is not an easy feat - I've used mine many a time with awful results. I was just delighting in my own lapped zipper insertion. Prickstitched of course, but gosh, have to say that my prickstitches are all completely perfectly spaced. Isn't that just the bee's knees? Yeah, no one understands until they actually do it. I'm in utter awe, dear! Utter. Awe. xoxo, Sunni

I have really battled with my machine's narrow hem foot. The strangest thing is, my first machine had a narrow hem foot that worked flawlessly (even for me, a beginner). When I sold my old machine to purchase my current one, I figured that the the new narrow hem foot would be easy as well. So not the case... and I have no idea why. Your hem looks beautiful, by the way! Way to go!-Lizz

That is one of those feet that I KNOW if I would take the time to work it out I would love it....but it behaves so differently with every fabric when I have tried that I just tend to do it all by hand! k.

Yes, I love it when that foot is working for me but it makes me so upset when it doesn't, skips back & forth into place.Also, it's the nicest fabrics that seem to really need that touch, so it is doubly perilous as you insert the fabric in and hold your breath...

Oh, I just love the narrow hem foot, it's the best thing ever, and for me it worked well from the start.... But i've tried wider ones and they don't work at all, the seams get all twisted and I get angry ;) very stragnge... :D

Oh no! 3 years?! I've recently tried my had at using my narrow hemming foot for the tiny pocket tank pattern by grainline (I made 4 of them) and had success with about half of each hem...I was hoping that It would only take a few more tries- silly me. At any rate I realized my limitations and got some wide hemmer feet to compensate for my :ahem: enthusiasm (read: impatience).

Ahh Gertie! Your hemming is phenomenal...I have used the hemming foot of my Singer Featherweight only once due to the disastrous results. Practice makes perfect that is for sure....I better give my hemming foot another go.

I'm envious. I have an old Sears Kenmore(2 of them).I've tried using the roled hem foot and the narrow hem foot and no luck. I just can't seem to get the fabric to feed right. I guess I'll just have to practice. I've started sewing more over the past year and wanting to expand my basics and just some projects need those kind of delicate hems.